Our last weekend in TN we decided to go to Clarksville &
explore some trails at nearby Dunbar Cave State Park.
Luckily we never saw any snakes!
We walked the Recovery Trail first.
At one end of the trail is Swan Lake.
The lake is fed by the cold, clear stream that flows from the mouth of a cave.
The cave was used by ancient Indians.
Artifacts have been found dating back to10,000 B.C.
Pictographs showing religious symbols of the Native American Indians have also been found inside the cave.
The entrance to the cave is 58 degrees year round.
It made for a refreshing stop on our walk!
In the 1930s the area hosted many events such as dances, concerts & fairs.
Roy
Acuff purchased the land where the cave was situated in 1948.
It became
the site of musical festivities & entertainment shows hosting big
bands.
Acuff
added a golf course adjacent to the lake. Popularity declined & the
property was purchased by another individual who operated the property
until it was eventually purchased by the state of TN in the early 1970s.
The cave is now closed due to the outbreak of White Nose Bat Syndrome.
After the Recovery Trail we did the Short Loop trail.
A lot of the trails looked like this.
We spent a lot of time stepping over tree roots!
Since the trals weren't very long or difficult at Dunbar Cave State Park we decided to stop at another park we had seen while driving to Dunbar Cave.
We chose the Overlook Trail along the top of the bluff of the Red River.
Luckily hubby was leading on this trail!
No one had traveled this trail for awhile because there were a million cobwebs.
He eventually got tired of brushing the cobwebs out of his hair & started waving a stick in front of him as we walked down the trail.
We also walked the short trail down Old Main Street to the Pratt Truss design steel bridge built in 1890. We then walked a side trail not marked on the map.
That was a mistake!
I can see why it wasn't marked on the map. It was one big loop through mud!
I had worn my new walking shoes & they were caked with mud.
I had to scrape them off before I could get back in the car.
Then I had to let them dry out until the next day. I had to use a knife to scrape the dried mud out of all the cracks in the bottom of my shoes.
We had started down the road to the next trail on the map & decided we had had enough for the day. Later while reading the trail brochure I discovered that trail was part of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. This was the forced march that the Cherokee Indians endured from their homelands in the southeast to the reservations in the west.
It would have been interesting to see the trail, but we were done with the mud by then.
I enjoyed the side trips we took while I was in TN.
We tried to explore new places each weekend, usually on foot.
I'm thinking I need to invest in some hiking shoes!
